A signature Jack Clarke goal was enough to win this game but I thought we had the better of the play overall and deserved it. Three points, a clean sheet and we’re back in the play-off positions. Net result? Happiness.
BEFORE
After the shambles of the Coventry match we really need to get a result today. Ba and Ekwah came in for plenty of stick during and after Saturday’s game and I do think Ba especially was all at sea but he shouldn’t have been in that position anyway. I doubt if either of them will start today but I just hope that Pritchard will as he’s clearly one player who can create real chances. There’ll be at least one change with the injury to Huggins but I don’t go along with those calling for Patterson to be dropped. I haven’t been able to face the league table for the last few days but having just checked I’m surprised to see that we’re somehow still in ninth spot and if we win, could even sneak into sixth place and replace Hull, who are currently in that position. They’ve lost three out of their last five which is worse than us so who knows what may happen? I’ll be in the company of five friends for the game and my match prediction is 2-2.
I got the team-news when I met my friends and the good news was that Pritch was on the bench. There were two changes in the starting line-up as far as my Christmas-addled brain could see, with Seelt and Dack coming in. Ekwah was starting and Ba was on the bench. My friends’ match predictions were:- 1-1 and 1-0, 2-1, 2-1 and 2-0 to us. The Mags lost 3-1 at home in the early match, which was a pleasing hors d’oeuvre to the main course.
THE GAME
The ball was mainly in our half in the opening stages but we won a corner on our first real foray in the sixth minute. This resulted in a header from Jobe and a corner on the other side but that came to nothing. Patterson dived to save a long distance effort from Connolly and in the fifteenth a good move down the right led to a cross from Roberts and a shot from Dack that went miles over the bar. It was a decent period for us and we looked better than we had on Saturday, not that that took much doing. We had two good chances when a Jobe shot was blocked and then a Hume effort went over the bar. I could feel us scoring soon but our third corner in the twenty-third minute produced nothing and then as Hull broke up the other end Patto punched the ball out low and we were lucky that no attacking player was there to stab it home.
A low Roberts effort in the twenty-eighth wasn’t too far wide of the left post and we were still looking the likelier side to score. Ingram in goal plucked the ball from the air before Ballard could get his head on a good cross on a diagonal ball from the left. Dack was down injured with around five minutes to the break and it wasn’t looking good. He eventually walked off uncomfortably and was replaced by Aouchiche. There were three minutes of added-time but it remained goalless as the whistle went for the break. I was fairly pleased with our performance so far. We’d looked much less vulnerable at the back and had created a number of decent chances, though as so often we’d lacked that killer touch upfront.
In the first minute of the second-half it looked like we were about to concede but a very weak low shot from Connolly was collected by Patto. We were soon winning a corner following a tricksy run from Roberts but nothing came of it. Ten minutes in, we allowed Delap to make a strong run down the left but his final shot was weak and Patto mopped it up. Just afterwards a great move culminated in Ekwah weaving through their box and winning a corner. Connolly was subbed just before the hour-mark and I hoped his replacement Lokilo would be as ineffective as he’d been. We’d had much the better of the attacking play this half as we passed the midway point but I was still waiting for Pritchard to come on.
Clarke set up a great chance for Roberts in the sixty-eighth but his low shot didn’t burst the net as I’d hoped as Ingram blocked it. We clocked up another corner that resulted in a low Aouchiche shot being gathered by Ingram. With eighteen minutes on the clock there was still no sign of Pritchard as we got a Hull corner cleared but finally he came on, replacing Roberts. I still felt we could nick one and win the game. Patto saved well from Morton in the seventy-ninth to concede a corner and we got it clear but Hull were buzzing. Pritch set up Aouchiche in their box but Ingram got there just before him. We didn’t have to worry for long as next thing we went ahead through a classic Jack Clarke goal when he jinked into their area from the left and slotted a low shot into the bottom right corner. Could we hold out? I thought we could as our defending had looked more solid. With three minutes on the clock we conceded a free-kick just outside our box and I was glad I was wearing my brown Christmas trousers. We got it away and then Triantis replaced Clarke to shore us up even more. There were four minutes of added-time and despite us all being on tenterhooks as we survived a last minute free-kick in a very dodgy spot, we held out and the three points were ours.
